The Internet of Things (IoT) is a general term used to describe the addition of networking capabilities to physical objects or “things” that serve some purpose or function outside of computing and/or networking technologies (i.e., traditionally “unconnected” or “offline” devices). In general, these “things,” sometimes referred to as IoT enabled-devices, IoT devices, or special purpose network connected devices, are embedded with electronics, software, and network interfaces, which enables the physical objects to send and/or receive data packets over a network.
The rapid rise of IoT has resulted in steadily increasing numbers and types of special purpose network connected devices. It is possible that many of these special purpose network connected devices will have little or no associated security capabilities (e.g., no authorization, authentication, and/or encryption capabilities) and, as such, there is a risk of such devices being attacked by a malicious entity. For example, an IoT-enabled refrigerator may have no need to send email, but yet refrigerators can be attacked and used to generate spam and malware.